Strangely enough, a retired fiend of ours worked for
Safeway. When we laughed and told him about this "first stop" he
told us he was offered the job of helping to build this Safeway and manage the
fruit & vegetable department - he turned it down.

All houses MUST have white marble - depending upon what
district or block you're on,

it can go from all four outer walls to just one.

O Madaba, the oldest preserved ancient mosaic map of the Holy
Lands.

Mosaics are a major art form and industry in this area

On the road to Petra

Black tents, above, belong only to Bedouins

Beware the third cup pf coffee!

The mount peak above Petra where Moses brother

is buried

The "Entrance" to Petra

Under the watchful eyes of camels and horses

we walk the 2.5 k to Petra

Some ride - carriages or horses

Tombs on along the path

Into the SIG

Looking up - a lot!

Hidden water troughs

On the left - for people; On the right - for animals

At the time they were completely hid den

Look for Roman paving stones

Yes, it gets pretty narrow & dark

Look for carvings in the walls -

Can you see the out line of the very famous camel carving?

And further down we go

And our Tourist Police companion (a really nice guy) said
-

"Close your eyes and let me lead you a few steps -

don't open them until I tell you to."

Yes - the Treasury!

We'll NEVER get as good a picture as you see in magazines!

Out of the Sig

Into a grand panaroma!

The top of the Treasury, above, where soldiers

& Bedouins shot - thinking it full of money

Steps carved into the wall beside the Treasury

where workers climbed to carve out the building

Inside the single room in the Trasury

some of the most spectacular "carvings" are made by
weathering

Tombs are everywhere

Spectacular buildings surround you

As do steps to no-where and paths to the heights

And then there's the stage / theater /coliseum

The Bedouins "owned Petra and lived their day-to-day
lives there,

up until the government saw Petra as their "oil
wells" for tourist trade. So they paid the Bedouins a large sum of
cash, gave them sole rights for all Petra shops selling to the tourists, and
built them the village pictured below, high upon a ridge looking down on
Petra.